The main claim defended is that a notion of discursive rationality emerges from the framework of Austinian speech act theory, and, moreover, is an appropriate tool for the resolution of the identified normativity problem. I thus propose a qualified endorsement of an approach owed in large part to Habermas's concept of communicative action.

Language is a form of human expression. It is the way people communicate with one another to express thoughts, ideas, decisions, desires and essentially to relay information successfully. There are numerous types of language, perhaps the most common of which are the written and spoken languages. Other forms include sign language, Braille and even primitive smoke signals. The term language comes via French, from the Latin word lingua meaning tongue. Even today, the spoken language is often referred to as tongue. It is not known exactly when language began or even how it began, although a common theory is that it began as an imitation of natural sounds of animals such as grunts, groans, whistles and barks. What is known, however, is that language changes everyday as it is influenced by human and historical changes. Words that exist in our vocabulary today did not exist for example a hundred years ago. Nor, perhaps, will they exist a hundred years from now. This is the same for all languages around the world, including the Italian language. Since the beginning of Italian history, Italians have spoken innumerable varieties of language. Discussions concerning these countless varieties could continue incessantly; and for this reason it is important to outline immediately the aim of this discussion. Throughout the ensuing chapters, all information gathered and analysed, has been done in order to achieve one aim: to discuss the existence of a standard Italian language in Australia as well as various dialects and regional varieties, and to analyse its promotion since Italian immigration to Australia. There is an immense wealth of information about Italian and English languages and so it is my objective not to be lost in general discussion but rather to adhere to my main aim as closely as possible / Master of Arts in Interpreting and Translation

This investigation into the origins of Scottish Standard English in the eighteenth century is conducted using the correspondence of James Duff, 2nd Earl Fife, to his factor William Rose over a 26 year period in the late eighteenth century, supported by biographical and historical linguistic data. The presence in Fife's writing of contemporaneously identified Scotticisms has been used as an indication of Fife's use of Scots language. A linguistic analysis of the Scotticisms found in Fife's writing showed no restriction in the use of any linguistic category. A quantitative investigation as to which extralinguistic factors of influence promoted the use of Scotticisms showed that the topic of Fife's communication was the greatest influence on his of Scotticisms but that purpose also played a part in determining his Scots language use. Fife's use of Scotticisms was also influenced by his social networks, with an increase in Scots lexicon in letters from Scotland and an increase in Scots syntax when there was no social pressure present to maintain Standard English. A qualitative analysis of Fife's use of Scotticisms showed that he employed Scots variants for pragmatic purposes. Referring to theories of second language acquisition and language contact, these results were interpreted to suggest that Fife maintained the Scots language of his childhood and acquired Standard English by education to become a bilingual adult, although from the relatively standardised nature of his writing. it appears that some vernacular shift had taken place throughout his lifetime. The evidence from Fife's correspondence suggests that any Scots language remaining in the otherwise generally Standard English in Scotland might be due to incomplete shift to Standard English, requirements of register, and pragmatically motivated selection of Scots. All these options require that the emerging speakers of Scottish Standard English had a degree of bilingualism in Scots and English.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 68-71).

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 68-71). Also available in print.

published_or_final_version / English / Master / Master of Arts

This thesis presents an analysis of third person accusative pronouns in Brazilian Portuguese. With the aim to analyze the variation between the use of standard (prescribed by normative grammar) and non-standard pronouns found in oral language, I gathered data from three kinds of TV show (news, non-scripted and soap-opera) in order to determine which form of pronoun is more common and if there is any linguistic and/or sociolinguistic factors that will influence on their usage. Based on data collected, I demonstrate that non-standard forms are favored in general and that the rules prescribed by normative grammar involving standard forms are only followed in specific contexts. Among all the variables considered for the analysis, the ones that showed to be significant were the kind of show, the context of the utterance, the socio-economic status of the speaker and verbs in the infinitive. Considering my results, I provide a discussion regarding to which extent the distribution of the 3rd-person pronouns on TV reflect their use by Brazilians and a brief discussion of other issues related to my findings conclude this work. / February 2016

Dissertation (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2004. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This dissertation offers metalexicographical criteria for the compilation of standard translation dictionaries in non-standardized languages. It particularly focuses on the role that the proposed dictionary model can play in the language standardization, with special reference to Fang. These criteria are based on different theoretical frameworks. Criteria for the dictionary structure are particularly based on Hausmann & Wiegand's General Theory of Lexicography, while a discussion of the role that dictionaries can play in the standardization process of languages is particularly based on criteria introduced by Zgusta. This dissertation is structured as follows: • Chapter 1, Introduction and problem statement, presents the motivation for the choice of the present topic, as well as the theoretical frameworks that I use to build my metalexicographical criteria. • Chapter 2, Fang and its dialects, focuses on the concerned language and its dialects. Apart from a historical overview of the Fang people, a wide inventory of works that have been implemented in Fang, as well as the choice and the motivation of the standard dialect are presented. • Chapter 3, Dictionaries and corpora, highlights the strong relationship between the compilation of modern dictionaries and electronic corpora. More precisely this chapter intends to demonstrate the importance of electronic corpora in the lexicographic practice. In this regard, the importance of some software and new corpus methods are also demonstrated. • Chapter 4, Aspects of the dictionary structure, mainly focuses on different structures of the dictionary and how data should be spread and organized in each dictionary component. A detailed account is given of the structure of each dictionary component. • Chapter 5, Dictionaries and standardization, focuses on the main purpose of the dissertation and demonstrates why and how the dictionary can be an instrument in the standardization process of languages, with specific reference to Fang. • Chapter 6, Concluding remarks, reviews all chapters by highlighting the focal points of each of them. Some perspectives or potential new developments are foreseen in order to pave the way for the elaboration of new theoretical frameworks and the improvement of the proposed dictionary model. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie proefskrif bied metaleksikografiese kriteria vir die samestelling van standaard vertalende woordeboeke vir nie-gestandaardiseerde tale. Die fokus is veralop die rol wat die voorgestelde woordeboekmodel kan speel in taalstandaardisering, met spesifieke verwysing van Fang. Hierdie kriteria is gebaseer op verskillende teoretiese raamwerke. Kriteria vir die woordeboekstruktuur is veral gebaseer op Hausmann en Wiegand se algemene leksikografieteorie, terwyl 'n bespreking van die rol van woordeboeke in die standaardiseringsproses van tale veral gebaseer is op kriteria wat deur Zgusta voorgestel is. Die proefskrif is soos volg saamgestel: • Hoofstuk 1 bied 'n motivering vir die keuse van die betrokke onderwerp asook vir die teoretiese raamwerke waarvolgens die metaleksikografiese kriteria geformuleer is. • Hoofstuk 2 fokus op die betrokke taal, Fang, en sy dialekte. Naas 'n historiese oorsig van die Fang sprekers word 'n wye keuse uit die Fang literatuur asook die keuse van 'n standaarddialek aan die orde gestel. • Hoofstuk 3 wys op die sterk verhouding tussen die samestelling van 'n moderne woordeboek en elektroniese korpora. Hierdie hoofstuk benadruk die belang van elektroniese korpora vir die leksikografiese praktyk. In hierdie verband word daar ook verwys na die belang van sekere sagtewareprodukte asook nuwe korpusmetodes. • Hoofstuk 4 is veral gerig op die verskillende woordeboekstrukture en op hoe data versprei en in die verskillende woordeboekkomponente aangebied moet word. Die struktuur van elke woordeboekkomponent word in besonderhede bespreek. • Hoofstuk 5 fokus op die hoofdoel van die proefskrif en wys hoe en waarom In woordeboek, met spesifieke verwysing na die situasie van Fang, In instrument kan wees in die taa Istandaardiseri ngsproses. • Hoofstuk 6 gee In oorsig oor die voorafgaande hoofstukke en wys op sekere belangrike aspekte wat bespreek is. Nuwe ontwikkelinge wat voorsien word om die weg te baan vir die ontwerp van nuwe teoretiese raamwerke ter verbetering van die voorgestelde model word beklemtoon.

The thesis deals with the language practices of French-speaking reggae singers. The work investigates how Jamaican musical inspiration came to the French scene, and which phonetic, morphosyntactic and especially lexical devices are found there. An inseparable object of research, equally undescribed, was the vernacular of francophone reggae fans. The empirical part investigates a random sample of French reggae (approx. 50 thousand words). The songs differ geographically, chronologically (1979-2010) and musically (roots, raggamuffin, dancehall). The research not only focuses on popular and colloquial French, slang, urban language, musical influence or poetry, but also on the coherence between themes and functions fulfilled by francophone reggae. A list of neologisms shows preferences in lexicogenic processes. Furthermore, the method includes a web survey answered by 189 French-speaking reggae fans, who represent the 'new speech' community. As a result, the hypothesis of a new vernacular, independent from rap, is confirmed. The specific hybridity is defined by code switching and more than a hundred English and Jamaican borrowings, which are commonly used by the fans.

A presente pesquisa tem como contexto linguístico dois bairros da cidade de Jundiaí, formados inicialmente por imigrantes italianos. Desse modo, buscamos responder a seguinte pergunta de pesquisa: como a língua italiana, por meio da memória e do sentimento de pertencimento, se faz presente nas representações sociais das comunidades dos bairros Traviú e Colônia? Este trabalho se justifica pelo fato de, ainda, não existirem pesquisas com base científica sobre as variedades linguísticas das comunidades acima destacadas. Portanto, a tese tem como objetivo central realizar um estudo nesse local para analisar os processos de silenciamento e substituição, oriundos dos contatos entre a língua materna (o português), e língua de imigração (as línguas minoritárias de diferentes regiões da Itália que ali chegaram com os imigrantes). A análise tem como base a modalidade oral, coletada por meio de entrevistas com os descendentes, e a escrita, com base nos poucos registros escritos e preservados, nas variedades da língua italiana ou na língua italiana standard. Os resultados deste trabalho são apresentados com base nas particularidades evidentes nos excertos analisados, em relação às pesquisas referentes ao contato linguístico entre a língua materna brasileira e as línguas dos imigrantes, em nosso caso o português brasileiro e as variedades da língua italiana. Conjuntamente, faz parte desta investigação uma reflexão sobre as dissertações, delimitadas à análise lexical, coordenadas pelo Programa de Língua, Literatura e Cultura Italianas, da Universidade de São Paulo, para destacarmos um estudo que apresente outras possibilidades de estudar as confluências, o silenciamento, a substituição e o quadro atual desses acontecimentos nas comunidades discursivas analisadas. Para tanto, nosso referencial teórico está embasado nos conceitos da Análise do Discurso de linha francesa, iniciados por Michel Foucault, sistematizados por Michel Pêcheux e, no Brasil, a contribuição de Eni Pulcinelli Orlandi. Nas análises do corpus de nosso estudo, verificamos que o processo lento de silenciamento das variedades da língua italiana se afirma com a falta de interlocutores, no entanto, o sentimento de pertencimento, a memória e a busca pela ascendência, têm contribuído para o estudo da língua italiana standard, apresentando um quadro que procura valorizar e registrar o que ainda se faz presente nas comunidades discursivas dos bairros Colônia e Traviú, de Jundiaí SP. Dados que, assim, formam o patrimônio linguístico imaterial com sentidos e valores não substituídos por outros signos linguísticos em tais comunidades. / This research sets its linguistic context in two districts of the city of Jundiaí, in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. Such districts were initially formed by immigrants of Italian descent. Thereby, we seek to answer the following research question: how is the Italian language, by means of memory and the feeling of belonging, present in the social representations of the communities of these districts of Traviú and Colônia? This research is relevant due to the fact that, so far, no scientifically based research has been made on the linguistic varieties in the communities aforementioned. Thus, the main objective of this thesis is to study the processes of silencing and substitution arising from the contact between the mother tongue (Portuguese), and the immigrants languages (several varieties of the Italian language from different minorities coming from different parts of Italy). This analysis is based on the oral modality, collected through interviews conducted with descendants, and through the writing modality, based on the few preserved written samples of the Italian varieties or the standard Italian. The results presented here are based on the specificities found in the excerpts analyzed, concerning researches on the linguistic contact between the Brazilian mother tongue and the immigrants languages, or, for us, the Brazilian Portuguese and the Italian language varieties. It is also part of this research, considerations on the dissertations which are limited to the lexical analysis, under the coordination of the Program of Italian Culture, Literature and Language in the University of São Paulo, so as to bring into focus a study that presents other possibilities for studying the convergences, the silencing, the substitution and the current status of such events in the discursive community studied. For such purpose, our theoretical framework is based on the French School of Discourse Analysis, which began with Michel Foucault and was systematized by Michel Pêcheux and which counts with the contributions of Eni Pulcinelli Orlandi in Brazil. In the analyses of the corpus studied we found that the slow process of silencing of the Italian language varieties occurs through the lack of interlocutors, although, the feeling of belonging, the memory and the research of ancestry have been contributing to the studies of the standard variety of the Italian language, revealing a scenario where it is sought to value and register what is still present in the discursive communities in the Colônia and Traviú districts. Such data thus, constitutes the immaterial linguistic heritage with meanings and values that are not substituted by other linguistic signs in those communities.